Center for Applied and Professional Ethics

Mission

The Center for Applied and Professional Ethics (CAPE) aims to advance practical ethical and moral understanding, judgment, and decision making. It assists students and faculty of Ohio University and the larger community through interdisciplinary discussion, education and collaboration. 

Its particular focus is on applied and professional fields, where real-life ethical dilemmas and conflicts need to be analyzed and resolved. Through educational activities — such as its signature public lecture series, a podcast, and a newsletter service — it attempts to address the general public as well as students, scholars, and faculty at Ohio University.

"Applied ethics" includes moral, social and political philosophy, which is why the center also contributes to public debates on social and economic justice, environmental issues, and socio-political questions.

Recent and Upcoming Speakers

Professor Nancy Sherman

CAPE Spring Lecture

'Feed the Soul: Lessons from Aristotle on Living Well'

with Nancy Sherman (Distinguished University Professor and Professor of Philosophy, Georgetown University)

Wednesday, March 25
4 p.m.

Clippinger Laboratories Rm 194

Abstract: Aristotle is the giant of Western thought. Antiquity knew him as “The First Teacher” and “The Philosopher.” His curiosity about the natural and social world is truly astounding and teaches us all to be curious and to desire to understand. With Aristotle as my guide, I will explore the foundational questions of all Greco-Roman ethics and the questions many of us struggle with every day: What is it to flourish? What is it to live a good life? How do we explore nature without exploiting it? How do we tell jokes without cruel mockery? How do we play without hurting? How do we cultivate friendships that help us grow? What does it mean to feed the soul?

CAPE Speakers and Events

Recent and Upcoming Speakers

CAPE Spring Workshop

'Philosophy in Times of Crisis'

Saturday, April 11
9 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Ellis Hall Rm 009

CAPE is organizing and hosting a one-day workshop at Ohio University, discussing recent work on the history of (practical) philosophy.

Invited speakers: Alyssa Bernstein (OU), Stefan Bird-Pollan (Wayne State), Christoph Hanisch (OU), Frank Kirkland (Hunter College, CUNY), Noelle McAfee (Emory), Herlinde Pauer-Studer (Vienna), Massimiliano Tomba (UC Santa Cruz)

Workshop theme: Philosophy, whether it thematizes it or not, responds in multiple ways to the social dimensions of the phenomenon of “crisis.” At least beginning with philosophers like a Bacon, Descartes and Hobbes, philosophy has explicitly responded to social currents which also means, scientific crisis. In the light of the current social crisis, we propose to cast back our glance at the sorts of crises which gave rise to some of the canonical great works of philosophy, each of which transformed what we mean by philosophy. By reexamining works like Hume’s Treatise and Kant’s Critiques as well as some of the important works of the 19th and 20th Centuries, from Hegel and Nietzsche to Freud, Adorno and Arendt, we hope to contribute to putting the crisis we are living through in historical context.

CAPE Speakers and Events

Activities and Focus

The Center for Applied and Professional Ethics emphasizes professional and applied ethics, particularly in departments and disciplines with a professional orientation, such as media and communication, engineering, medicine, nursing, and business, but also in the larger community. In addition to organizing events on ethics issues, the center's goal is to contribute to both educating future professionals and providing workshops for faculty in these disciplines.

The center also promotes well-informed, critical reflection about economic, social and political discourse across academic disciplines and with the wider public. In recent years, for example, the center's guest lecturers have focused on voting rights, the status and condition of U.S. American democratic institutions, the challenges of social media (ab)use in the public sphere, and the topic of "fake news."

Leadership

The director from 2011 to 2016 was Dr. Alyssa R. Bernstein (Philosophy). From 2016 to 2021, Dr. Bernhard Debatin (Journalism) was leading the center.

Dr. Christoph Hanisch began his tenure as the center's associate director in 2020, taking over the directorship from Bernhard Debatin in fall of 2021. After completing his undergraduate degree at the University of Vienna, Dr. Hanisch did his graduate studies at the University of St Andrews and at Bowling Green State University, where he received his Ph D. in Applied Philosophy in 2012. After a postdoc and visiting professorship at the University of Vienna, Hanisch returned to the United States in 2016, starting his assistant professorship at Ohio University. Hanisch has published widely in the fields of ethical theory, applied political and social philosophy, and the history of moral philosophy.